From: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com (roc-digest) To: roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: roc-digest V2 #152 Reply-To: roc-digest Sender: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk roc-digest Friday, June 19 1998 Volume 02 : Number 152 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 17:26:39 -0700 From: Kenneth Mitchell Subject: Re: Fratrum: PDD 63 (fwd) At 02:23 PM 6/18/98 PST, Bill Vance wrote: >On Jun 18, Eugene W. Gross wrote: > >[-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] > >Joseph Farah's column discusses the government's move toward >martial law. > >Bit by bit, the story is getting out. It will not hit the public's radar until >the banks are threatened and emergency orders limiting cash >withdrawals are declared. > >Pay close attention to Sen. Robert Bennett's analysis: > >He understands the systemic nature of y2k: you have to fix all of the >world's computers in order to secure any computer. Noncompliant >data must be locked out of every system. There's a fundamental flaw in the assumptions here; the Y2K problem affects _PROGRAMS_, not _DATA_. There's no such thing as "noncompliant data". Y2K-compliant programs must make certain assumptions concerning 2-digit years in its own data anyway, so compliant systems will automatically be able to import other-program 2-digit year data. Personally, I think that an effective stop-gap measure will be to change our programming assumptions concerning 2-digit years; assume that they fall between 1950 and 2049. That would push the deadline another 50 years into the future, by which time all the old systems will have been replaced anyway. - ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ken Mitchell Citrus Heights, CA kmitchel@gvn.net 916-955-9152 (vm) 916-729-0966 (fax) Registered Libertarian - --------------http://www.gvn.net/~creative/------------------------ "In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all - security, comfort and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society, but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free." Gibbons: "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" - ------------------------------------------------------------------- Proud Member of the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" since 1992! - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 17:57:04 -0700 From: Jack Perrine Subject: Re: Fratrum: PDD 63 (fwd) At 17:26 6/18/98 -0700, you wrote: >At 02:23 PM 6/18/98 PST, Bill Vance wrote: >>On Jun 18, Eugene W. Gross wrote: >> >>[-------------------- text of forwarded message follows - --------------------] >> >>Joseph Farah's column discusses the government's move toward >>martial law. >> >>Bit by bit, the story is getting out. It will not hit the public's radar >until >>the banks are threatened and emergency orders limiting cash >>withdrawals are declared. >> >>Pay close attention to Sen. Robert Bennett's analysis: >> >>He understands the systemic nature of y2k: you have to fix all of the >>world's computers in order to secure any computer. Noncompliant >>data must be locked out of every system. > >There's a fundamental flaw in the assumptions here; the Y2K problem affects >_PROGRAMS_, not _DATA_. There's no such thing as "noncompliant data". >Y2K-compliant programs must make certain assumptions concerning 2-digit >years in its own data anyway, so compliant systems will automatically be >able to import other-program 2-digit year data. > >Personally, I think that an effective stop-gap measure will be to change >our programming assumptions concerning 2-digit years; assume that they fall >between 1950 and 2049. That would push the deadline another 50 years into >the future, by which time all the old systems will have been replaced >anyway. But assumptions like that do not really solve any thing. Everyplace a date is processed one has to alter the code to make that assumption....and having gone to that much trouble one might as well fix it. If one reads the date from on an old....or perhaps even current file one has to effectively create a four character field and modify all the comparisons in sort routines to look at the new field in some jury rigged fashion or another. About all this solves is the horrendous problem of altering n jillion files to be in a new format and getting new files copied on to new media....and keeping track of what is where. Tho, my personal feeling is that the real challenge will be programs that have multiple files of input and getting them to behave properly when some of the files have been updated and some have not. One imagines operations types having nightmares at finding a program that is set up to process the combination of input data having to be procssed in a panic that day However, I tend to think that it is really much more of a problem of incompatible data than incompatible programs. While we hear much about having to look at all these millions of lines of programs and so forth and so on, in reality all one should have to do is alter the file definitions and recompile........then we have a compliant program and zillions of old reels of non-compliant data. One must remember that it is very very difficult to preread / double read data in most Cobol programs and such. One provides a record definition and the system makes a record of that spec available for processing by the names of the fields in the records....but this is not at all like more modern languages where one can scan an image in a file and then decide how to decode it Jack >------------------------------------------------------------------- >Ken Mitchell Citrus Heights, CA kmitchel@gvn.net >916-955-9152 (vm) 916-729-0966 (fax) Registered Libertarian >--------------http://www.gvn.net/~creative/------------------------ >"In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. >They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all - security, >comfort and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give >to society, but for society to give to them, when the freedom they >wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased >to be free." Gibbons: "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" >------------------------------------------------------------------- > Proud Member of the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" since 1992! > >- > > Jack Perrine | Athena Programming | 626-798-6574 -----------------| 1175 N Altadena Dr | -------------- Jack@Minerva.Com | Pasadena CA 91107 | FAX-309-8620 - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 22:54:33 -0400 From: Tom Cloyes Subject: Fwd: Shades of things to come? Does anybody else see any parallells? Tom >Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 22:42:47 -0400 >From: E Pluribus Unum >X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.01 [en] (Win95; U) >To: E Pluribus Unum Email Distribution Network >Subject: Shades of things to come? > >Source: New York Times > >June 17, 1998 > >China's Churches: Glad, and Bitter, Tidings > >By ERIK ECKHOLM > > NANJING -- New Bibles stream forth from a computerized printing press >in this onetime southern capital at a rate of two and a half million a >year, for sale to Christians all over China. > > Since opening in 1988, the publishing company, a joint venture of the >Government-approved Protestant Church and a global charity, United Bible >Societies, has shipped out 18 million inexpensive Bibles, an astonishing >turn in a country that only a few decades ago tried to stamp out >religion for good. > > The Bibles are quickly bought and eagerly used. In downtown Nanjing on >any Sunday morning at St. Paul's Church, one of the city's seven legal >Protestant churches, the pews overflow with more than 1,000 worshipers >at each of two services, while hundreds more watch from another building >on closed-circuit television. > > With hymns, a sermon and closing recitation of the Lord's Prayer, the >services here and at thousands of other churches around the country have >the rhythms of mainstream Protestant services anywhere. Like many urban >churches, this one has a preponderance of older women, some of whom were >Christian before the Communist takeover in 1949, but around the country >many men and women, young and old, are embracing Jesus Christ. > > Such open, joyous displays of worship were unusual in the 1950's, as >the Communists reshaped China, and unthinkable during Mao's Cultural >Revolution of 1966-1976, when churches were burned and those Christians >who were not jailed could only hold clandestine prayer meetings, and >dared not own a Bible. > > Yet even as Bibles flow and churchgoers worship, at least scores of >Protestant and Catholic leaders are held in in labor camps or jails for >refusing to bow to Government control. While the confirmed number of >imprisoned Christians appears to be lower than is often asserted abroad, >their travails are a telling sign that >religion here is not truly free. > > Just last month, security agents reportedly razed an unapproved >Catholic church in Fujian, while in Hebei, to the north, they arrested a >pro-Vatican bishop who was too energetically promoting his faith. Last >fall, the leader of a fervent born-again >sect known as the Weepers was sentenced to a three-year term for >disturbing public order. > > Millions of other Christians who reject the official church must >practice their faith with a wary eye, and even those who embrace the >Government cannot publicly proclaim or spread their faith as they might >wish to. > > The charge of religious persecution -- of Christians and also Tibetan >Buddhists and some Muslim groups -- has emerged as perhaps the most >potent human rights issue in Chinese-American relations, one President >Clinton cannot avoid as he prepares to visit Beijing. Clinton is under >pressure in Congress to raise the issue. In March, as the House passed a >human-rights resolution, Representative Chris Smith, Republican of New >Jersey, declared that Beijing's tight control over religion "is totally >unacceptable and ought to be condemned." > > Critics in the West point to the restrictions and repression as >evidence of systematic persecution, while the Government's defenders >here point, instead, to the relative freedom most Christians now enjoy. > > Paradoxically, the rising outcry abroad comes as Christianity in China, >especially evangelical Protestantism, is growing explosively. The Rev. >Don Argue, recent president of the National Association of Evangelicals >in the United States, says China may be experiencing "the single >greatest Revival in the history of Christianity." > > Much of that growth has occurred with official acquiescence, and though >they remain a small minority in a giant country, millions of Chinese >people like Zhang Linmei, a 32-year-old worshiper at St. Paul's, find >the same comfort in religion that Christians do anywhere, without >worrying much about politics. > > "I feel life is meaningless in society at large," Zhang said after >services as she picked up her 5-year-old daughter, dressed in her >finest, from Sunday school. > > "This is the only reliable place in my life," Zhang added. > > "The situation for religion is in many ways the best it's been since >1949," said Richard Madsen, an expert on Chinese religion at the >University of California at San Diego. Though the Government still >controls their growth and closely monitors their activities, he said, >the official churches enjoy more autonomy Wednesday than in the past. > > Even the illegal churches -- unregistered Protestant churches and >openly pro-Vatican Catholic groups -- function without serious trouble >in many places, Dr. Madsen and others say. But those who refuse to >pledge support to the Government and its apparatus of religious control, >and those with unorthodox or ecstatic styles of worship, can face harsh >repression. The situation is similar for other major religions here, >including Buddhists and Muslims. Many believers now enjoy relative >freedom, but Tibetan Buddhists who consider the Dalai Lama their leader >face repression. > > The History: After Repression, A Major Revival > > In 1949, there were fewer than one million Protestants here. In 1979, >three years after the end of the Cultural Revolution when Maoist mobs >attacked churches and the homes of believers, only three Protestant >churches were open in all of China. Estimates of the number of >Christians in China's population of 1.2 billion range from about 15 >million to 35 million, or some believe, many more. Chinese church >officials say there are 12 million Protestants, and outside experts like >Dr. Madsen say the actual number may be at least 20 million and rising. >More than 12,000 official Protestant churches are open and, again by >official estimates, Christians without access to churches or >professional pastors meet in some 25,000 homes or other meeting points. >These estimates ignore groups that the Government regards as criminal, >and are believed to understate the total greatly. > > The legions of Protestants include new converts like Xu Wenju, a >74-year-old widow in Beijing who first attended a large official church >in 1995 at the urging of a neighbor and, she says, found spiritual >sustenance. She was soon baptized and now says that she feels healthier, >and that her family has become more harmonious. > > It includes those born into Christian families like Dr. Wu, a >75-year-old retired physician in Beijing who read the Bible at age 6 and >has wanted to spread the Gospel ever since. > > Chafing at the controls of the official church, he was jailed for over >a year in the 1950's, he said, and he still prefers a house church, as >the illegal gatherings are known. > > In 1992 the police came to his house and took his religious books and >tapes, said Dr. Wu, who declined to give his full name. But they left >him his personal Bible, telling him, "You can believe but you cannot >preach." > > It includes a 30-year-old economics student in Beijing, Li, who said a >friend had introduced the Gospel to her. She, too, attends a small house >church, not for political reasons but because, she said, "I think there >is more a feeling of love, and more opportunity for fellowship." > > Officials say Catholics now number four million, while outside >researchers say the true total may be closer to 10 million, with many >secretly accepting the Pope as the true head of their church. > > The peculiar hybrid state of Christianity here reflects the general >obsession of the Communist Party with control: virtually any >organization, whether political or social or religious, must gain party >approval. > > The party is an officially atheist organization that asserts that >religion will eventually wither away. But in a policy spelled out in the >early 1980's, the Government officially guarantees freedom of religion >-- within prescribed boundaries including a required allegiance to the >state, adherence to certain styles of worship and limits on church >construction, evangelizing and the baptism of children, among other >rules. > > For those willing to accommodate, the 1990's seem a golden time. > > "From our perspective, now is the best period ever for implementing the >policy of religious freedom," said Han Wenzao, who as president of the >China Christian Council is the national leader of the official >Protestant church and a prime link to the Communist Government. "The >criterion should be, is the word of God being propagated or not? It is >and it's good." > > Han, who is 75 and has his office in the Jinling Union Seminary of >Nanjing, says he became a devout Christian at a missionary college >though he was never ordained. He helped create the official, "patriotic" >Protestant church here during the period after the Communist takeover in >1949, when, he says, it was politically necessary to repudiate the >"imperialist" sponsorship of foreign missionaries. The willing believers >joined in a generic, nondenominational church. > > Han and other official leaders are bitterly denounced as sell-outs and >"fake Christians" by some who reject the notion of saluting an atheistic >state, and who often suffered terribly for refusing to cooperate. > > Yuan Xiangchen, also known as Allen Yuan, 84, is one of the >best-known leaders of the house church movement. He simply says: "The >head of the church is not any agency or person. The head of the Church >is Christ." > > "The official church is led by the Communists," he added. "That's why >we worship at home." > > Yuan, like many of the more defiant figures here, spent more than 20 >years in jail for his beliefs, and in recent years has faced on-and-off >curbs on his travel and work. At present, he is allowed to preach to up >to several dozen followers in a dingy room, with a picture of the Rev. >Billy Graham tacked on the wall, in an alleyway in the center of Beijing >-- one of dozens such illegal gatherings that Beijing authorities suffer >to exist, under a tight watch. > > In an interview last month, Yuan said he was forbidden to collect money >from worshipers, and he added that controls were often more stringent on >house churches in rural areas. More recently, security officials have >warned him not to speak to reporters. > > The Politics: Beijing Accommodates To a Rising Tide > > While for those in prison the situation is all too stark, the religious >picture in China Wednesday is often painted in shades of gray. > > The printing press outside Nanjing can produce millions of Bibles, for >example, a clear boon to the church. But the press, the Nanjing Amity >Printing Company, must reach agreement each year with the Government's >Religious Affairs Bureau over how many Bibles it can >actually print -- well below its capacity -- and the books can only be >sold in churches, not in bookstores. > > Yet officials have also allowed the press to supply more than 1.2 >million Bibles, through an American missionary group led by Ned Graham, >a son of Billy Graham, to unapproved house churches. > > In the 1980's, as religious activity began to recover here, outside >evangelical groups had begun smuggling many Bibles into the country in >suitcases. One of the major smugglers was Doug Sutphen. > > Then, Sutphen's East Gates Ministries, from the Seattle area, >negotiated a deal in which it bought Nanjing Bibles to distribute >outside official channels. He later handed over the organization to Ned >Graham. > > "I see no need for smuggling any more," said Sutphen, who now dreams of >some day arranging -- legally -- for a Christian television station in >China. Graham has not responded to requests for an interview. > > To illustrate another gray area: officially, evangelizing is forbidden >in China. The definition has become blurred, though, as officials >struggle to co-opt rapidly spreading Protestantism, especially in rural >areas. > > During a surprise visit several weeks ago to the Saint James Protestant >Church in Yichang, a city on the Yangtze River in Hubei, the pastor, the >Rev. Zhu Zhigao, said that tens of thousands of people in the >surrounding mountains had become Christian through person-to-person >contact or under the influence of Hong Kong radio programs. > > So his church has brought in groups of rural Christian leaders, two >groups of 40 each in the last year, for two-month training sessions, to >serve as lay ministers in their villages. Among other things, he shows >them imported videotapes about Christianity. And he distributes Bibles >from the Nanjing press. > > One of the Government's greatest fears is the breakaway emergence of an >unorthodox sect that might seriously challenge public order -- at the >extreme, something like the Taiping Rebellion of the mid-1800's, which >began with a charismatic Christian sect leader, and eventually conquered >half of China, with Nanjing as its capital. > > From the Government's perspective, then, giving mainstream, if limited, >theological training to leaders of a budding rural church is preferable >to letting them forge their own paths, possibly into what the Government >considers illegal cults. > > "I feel very free to spread the Gospel," said Zhu, who also serves on >local Governmental bodies. > > The Catholics have a seemingly clear litmus test: do they accept the >leadership of the National Patriotic Catholic Movement and its selection >of bishops, or do they, like Catholics in other countries, reserve those >roles for the Pope? Some of the most pro-Vatican bishops and priests are >persecuted or jailed. Yet there are many permutations. > > Many priests in the official church say they remain privately loyal to >the Vatican. The Vatican, for its part, says that while many newer >priests and bishops are not legally ordained, they are true Catholics >with the spiritual power to celebrate Mass and perform other sacred >duties -- "valid but not licit" is the tortured phrase used by the >Vatican to describe their status.The Vatican has even granted secret >approval to some official church leaders, Dr. Madsen says. > > For many years, to help meet the acute shortage of theology teachers, >China has allowed groups of Vatican-ordained priests, from Hong Kong, >Taiwan and elsewhere, to teach in official seminaries in China, >according to church officials in Hong Kong. Groups of official Chinese >priests have also studied in the Vatican-run seminary in Hong Kong. > > The Repression: Jail Still Awaits The Defiant > > And still the repression of some Christians continues, to different >degrees among the country's far-flung regions. > > The number of people in jails or labor camps for their religious >activity is a matter of dispute, but loose assertions abroad that >thousands are in prison appear to be exaggerated. > > Two major human rights groups, Amnesty International, based in London, >and Human Rights Watch, in New York, both say -- while >admitting to deep uncertainties -- that they find solid evidence only >that scores of people are now in some form of long-term detention for >their Christian activities: several dozen Catholic leaders, and a >similar number of Protestants, are thought to be held. > > Imprisonment is increasingly reserved for major organizers and leaders, >while brief detentions and fines have been the more common penalty >levied against illegal Christian groups, said Arlette Laduguie of >Amnesty International. But she warned that information even on some >recent large-scale crackdowns, like the arrests of hundreds of Roman >Catholics last year in Jiangxi Province as part of a campaign against a >powerful illegal movement, may not emerge for many months. > > Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom in Washington >and one of the sharpest American critics of China, said that on the >basis of various field reports her group believes that at least 500 >Christian leaders are serving sentences, while at least another 500 >followers are detained at any given time, justifying her published >statements that thousands are under arrest. > > Conflict and arrests may have intensified in the mid-1990's as the >Government, faced with an explosive spread of Christian groups and a >shortage of reliable pastors, made a strong new push to require all >religious groups to register with authorities. Those refusing have often >been hounded. > > While the registration drive is notorious among the house churches and >their international supporters, it is actually good for Christianity, >asserted Han, the official Protestant leader. > > "When you register, your legal status is protected," Han said. "That's >something we wanted," he said -- to provide a defense against the >lawless persecution seen in the past. The argument is rejected by those >who just wish to be left alone. > > Han admitted that local officials sometimes improperly harass the >church, and said he had on several occasions called on national >authorities to rectify a local problem. > > "At the grass-roots or country level, there are still some people who >cannot understand the central Government's policy of religious freedom," >he said. He adds that local officials sometimes have trouble >distinguishing cults, which are banned, from genuine Christian groups. > > On that question, the definition of a cult, opinions differ. Han's >sympathies do not extend to the likes of Xu Yongze, the Weepers leader >recently sentenced to three years. > > Xu's followers are said to cry, sometimes for days, until they find a >vision. Han said Xu's views were heresy, caused mental disorders and >disturbances to neighbors, and were a violation of the law. > > The very drive for conformity is part of the problem, rights advocates >say. In its effort to define acceptable beliefs and limit how religion >can be publicly expressed, China violates international standards of >religious freedom as laid out in international charters and resolutions. > > "The right to believe what you want and the right to publicly manifest >that belief when and where and with whom you want is what's at stake," >said Mickey Siegal, a Human Rights Watch researcher in New York. > > Another problem altogether is discrimination even against legal >Christians, who usually cannot hold senior positions in Government or >the vast state-run economy. This reflects a more fundamental trait of >China: high office is still almost entirely reserved for members of the >Communist Party -- who are not supposed to adopt Christianity or any >other religion. > > The Contrast: Evangelical Fire, Official Moderation > > Recent Sunday services at St. Paul's Church in Nanjing exemplified the >moderate, hybrid style of Protestantism that is promoted by Government >agencies. In what could have been a scene at an American Presbyterian or >Lutheran church, the members shared prayers and the Apostle's Creed, and >they sang hymns with the robed choir. The recited verses from Acts and >Psalms, and watched as six men from an ethnic minority group in Yunan, >here on an exchange, sang a hymn in thanks for the hospitality. > > They listened to a pleasant 20-minute sermon by the middle-aged Pastor >Lin De'en, telling the story of a man who on his deathbed finally >appreciated the Christianity of his wife and son, and concluding with an >ode to the value of personal worship: it will help you become modest, >honest, patient and love one another. > > Some of the house churches, in contrast, have the fiery spirit and >orations of a revival meeting, the passion fed by a shared sense of >persecution. Some also have links with foreign evangelists who slip into >China, in unknown numbers, to exhort their brethren, sometimes with just >the kinds of messages the Government most abhors. > > At a recent house church service in a central Chinese city that, to >protect the preacher, cannot be identified, two such missionaries, an >Asian woman and a European man, showed up anannounced and were given >the podium. > > "The early Christians were persecuted too," the Asian said. "We all >must go out and spread the word!" > > "We must take the word of Jesus to Tibet and Xinjiang," she said, >referring to the mainly Buddhist and Muslim border regions. > > The European man took over. "They burn down a church every week, but >the church is not made of wood," he said. "Let us go out and plant one >million house churches," he said to the crowd of perhaps 50. "It will >turn China upside down! God give us China or we die!" > > The Chinese pastor took over, his air a bit more moderate. "It's true, >we should all go out and start new house churches," he said. But he >added, "If you go to the official church, then don't come here." > >Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company >-- >****************************************************************** > E Pluribus Unum The Central Ohio Patriot Group > P.O. Box 791 Eventline/Voicemail: (614) 823-8499 > Grove City, OH 43123 > >Meetings: Monday Evenings, 7:30pm, Ryan's Steakhouse > 3635 W. Dublin-Granville Rd. (just East of Sawmill Rd.) > >http://www.infinet.com/~eplurib eplurib@infinet.com >****************************************************************** > - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jun 98 18:27:47 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Another web vote (fwd) On Jun 18, brian.beck@usa.net wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] >>Forwarded message At the New Jersey News: http://www.nj.com/news/ ..they are asking the question... In a recent speech, new NRA president Charlton Heston asked, "I want to know who's with me and who's against me?" What's your answer? O With him. I agree with the NRA's agenda O Against him. I disagree with the NRA's agenda ..why not let 'em know what you think? Mike Haas >> ____________________________________________________________________ Get free e-mail and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jun 98 18:36:08 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Re: Fratrum: PDD 63 (fwd) On Jun 18, Kenneth Mitchell wrote: >At 02:23 PM 6/18/98 PST, Bill Vance wrote: >>On Jun 18, Eugene W. Gross wrote: >> >>[-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] >> >>Joseph Farah's column discusses the government's move toward >>martial law. >> >>Bit by bit, the story is getting out. It will not hit the public's radar >until >>the banks are threatened and emergency orders limiting cash >>withdrawals are declared. >> >>Pay close attention to Sen. Robert Bennett's analysis: >> >>He understands the systemic nature of y2k: you have to fix all of the >>world's computers in order to secure any computer. Noncompliant >>data must be locked out of every system. > >There's a fundamental flaw in the assumptions here; the Y2K problem affects >_PROGRAMS_, not _DATA_. There's no such thing as "noncompliant data". >Y2K-compliant programs must make certain assumptions concerning 2-digit >years in its own data anyway, so compliant systems will automatically be >able to import other-program 2-digit year data. > >Personally, I think that an effective stop-gap measure will be to change >our programming assumptions concerning 2-digit years; assume that they fall >between 1950 and 2049. That would push the deadline another 50 years into >the future, by which time all the old systems will have been replaced >anyway. Unworkable. In any case, as nasty as it's likely to get, my concern here is not Y2K so much as it's being used as the excuse for declaring Martial Law, which is in d*mn near _every_ PDD/Exec Order et al, that's come down the pike these last several years. King Klintoon we don't need. - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 07:11:24 -0400 From: Tom Cloyes Subject: Re: Another web vote (fwd) Just voted, and these are the results: 73.9 With him 26.1 Against him Let's keep up the pressure. Tom At 06:27 PM 6/18/98 -0800, you wrote: >On Jun 18, brian.beck@usa.net wrote: > >[-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] > > >>>Forwarded message > >At the New Jersey News: http://www.nj.com/news/ > >..they are asking the question... > >In a recent speech, new NRA president Charlton Heston asked, "I want to > know who's with me and who's against me?" What's your answer? > > O With him. I agree with the NRA's agenda > O Against him. I disagree with the NRA's agenda > >..why not let 'em know what you think? > >Mike Haas > >>> > > > >____________________________________________________________________ >Get free e-mail and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 > > >[------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] > >-- >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** >----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- >An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no >weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his >hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a >on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ >----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- > >- > - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 11:16:46 -0500 (CDT) From: Paul M Watson Subject: Here we go again (fwd) - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 11:06:58 -0700 From: stevens@iglobal.net Reply-To: texas-gun-owners@Mailing-List.net To: texas-gun-owners@Mailing-List.net Subject: Here we go again Posted to texas-gun-owners by stevens@iglobal.net - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Implementation of National ID Imminent By Scott McDonald, SCAN THIS NEWS On Wednesday, June 17th, the U.S. Department of Transportation published the proposed "Driver's License/SSN/National Identification Document" guidelines which all states will be compelled to comply with over the next two years. The "Notice of Proposed Rule Making" (NPRM) sets out the "standard feature" requirements for driver's license cards and other "identification" documents. States that do not comply will find that their citizens will not be allowed to participate in routine, life-essential functions after the imposed federal deadline of October 1, 2000. Non-conforming licenses will not be accepted for identification by any federal agency. Once implemented no one in the U.S. will be able to engage in many basic, fundamental societal activities unless they carry with them at all times a conforming government-issued identification card. Not surprisingly, under the proposed rule it will become MANDATORY that social security numbers must be submitted in order for anyone to receive a state-issued driver's license. Perhaps the most pervasive implication of this new National ID scheme is that in the near future an identification card will be required just to engage in activities we now take for granted. Under the federal "New Hires Database" system and the related "Employment Eligibility Confirmation System" program, EVERYONE will be required to possess an approved identification document in order to get a job and work in the United States. Also, as a condition of the new and upcoming healthcare-provider requirements everyone will have to submit a conforming identification document in order to receive health care. Otherwise, the healthcare provider will forfeit all federal compensation for their services -- Medicaid, Medicare -- and you know they're not about to risk that. Of course other activities such as banking, purchasing insurance, writing a check, obtaining a passport, boarding a commercial airliner -- and the list goes on and on -- will all likewise require the new IDs. The proponents of this measure are intent on establishing a universal, nationwide identification system -- and state-issued driver's licenses are the method they have chosen as the "path of least resistance." Under the "Administrative Procedures Act" federal agencies must announce their intention to promulgate new rules, (as they have now done in this case), and they must provide an opportunity for the general public to comment on their proposal. Watch for more information on how to oppose this rule in upcoming editions of the CfCL Weekly Update. Read the Proposed DOT Rules (cut and paste URL into browser): http://www.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?IPaddress=3D&dbname=3D1998_reg ister&docid=3D98-16062 - -- For help with Majordomo commands, send a message to majordomo@mailing-list.net with the word help in the message body. - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 14:18:10 -0500 (CDT) From: Paul M Watson Subject: Privacy and Security 2001, June Issue (fwd) - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 13:10:52 -0400 From: "James A. Ross" To: jross@rosseng.com, news@aen.org Subject: Privacy and Security 2001, June Issue Privacy and Security 2001SM Everyman's guide to coping in the modern, high-tech world Volume XIV, Number 6 Yogo 14.06 June 1998 Reminder: Your ultimate loss of privacy and security occurs when they kill you. IN THIS ISSUE Pages 1 & 2 (printed version) Technical, Legal and TSCM Questions Pages 3 & 4 (printed version) More Material from STOA Report Y2K & OMB Press reports recently stated that OMB is pressuring federal government agencies to "fix" the Y2K problem in the next 18 months. If you have any way to get through to the powers that be at OMB, let 'em know they only have 15 months to get Y2K under control. That's because the federal governments next fiscal year, FY 2000, starts on 1 October, 1999. On that date the Social Security Administration's computers will have me listed as minus 27 years old. Gad, what a check I'll have to write them! ANALOG TAPES ETC. AS EVIDENCE Background. Paul Hansen (a contractor) inquired about the legality of using a taped message from his answering machine in a contested court case. The situation was that a tenant had left a message regarding subletting property he was in, but later denied that he had considered violating his lease in that way. My Response. I advised Paul that, from the engineer's point of view, we'd probably be able to prevent the use of the tape in court. I told him that, if I were the expert witness by the other side in a court case, I'd have the lawyer on our side cross examine him on the chain of custody of the tape in question. If he could not document an absolutely unbroken chain of custody, we'd beat him because there are modern digital techniques that can create a new modified analog tape that no technique in the world can identify as a forgery. Please carefully note the engineer's exact words: "...document an absolutely unbroken chain of custody". That means for example that, if the witness testified that he did not have it in his possession continuously (or locked in a safe deposit box or whatever), the court will rule that the chain of custody might have been broken. His Rejoinder. "Thanks for your response. Intriguing idea. From an engineering standpoint, do you think your same argument could be made against "signed documents?" For example, using modern techniques, isn't it just as possible to create a "signed agreement" that no technique in the world can identify as a forgery (e.g. a rental agreement)? Then, the only recourse is a notarized signature, I suppose." My Response. "Interesting thought. But my field is electronics so I can safely dodge that question. "However, I once saw a demonstration of a document validation process that implanted magnetic particles in a document that can only be read by a special machine and the pattern detected while checking for validity must match the one stored elsewhere at the time the document is impregnated." Post Script. If you, dear reader, have any thought to pass along on this subject, I'd appreciate hearing from you or you can contact Paul at . CMT USED AS A BUG? Recently a friend asked if a cellular phone could be used as a bug, and did we have any knowledge of such use. Well, one or two years ago we carried a short blurb in this newsletter on just that subject and pointed out that many hand-held CMTs have an auto answer feature and also allow the user to turn off the ringer. What a setup! Let's say you are gathered around a table negotiating a deal with another company. In order to learn what their fall-back position is all you have to do is tell them it's apparent that they are not prepared and offer them a chance to meet in private. Then you leave your auto-answer CMT on the table, turned "on" and with the ringer turned "off". You and your colleagues leave the room, go to a pay phone, dial your CMT, and listen while the other side discusses how to deal with you. Do we have knowledge of such use? Not really. We heard of one case in which a participant in a high level meeting had forgotten to give her CMT the "end" command, but left it on because she was expecting a call with information the group needed. The person she had been talking with had his speakerphone on, so his whole office was privy to the details discussed in that meeting. TSCM TIP On a recent job Scott Parker discovered a very interesting vulnerability. As he was doing the carrier current testing he learned that the AC outlets in the CEO's office were RF-common with a power outlet in a tiny coffee service room well down the hall. What that means, of course, is that a carrier current transmitter installed in the CEO's office could be monitored by someone in that coffee room. In discussing that find with Kevin Reierson in Minneapolis, I learned that he had worked in a building in which the CEO's office was RF-common with a public restroom in the lobby area and also with power outlets in the parking area outside the building. (They are so far up north that they need to plug engine warmer circuits into power so they can start their car on sub-zero days.) TSCM TRAINING Several of our readers have forwarded some material from the 'net that pretends to provide information about our training program. Because that "information" is so far off the mark, we've decided that we should provide our readers with real facts as to what we do and how we see the North Carolina licensing program. (NC is the only state to require a specific TSCM license to legally perform TSCM service in the state.) Because we are one of the accredited courses for licensure in NC, we were recently asked our opinion on making the qualification standards tougher. Our response follows. "In answer to your basic question in your letter of 4-2-98, we are heartily in favor of increasing the training time required to qualify for a TSCM license in North Carolina. We offer only a two-week course so you can see we agree that one week is not enough. However, we don't call week #1 "basic" and week #2 "advanced", as Ray does; it's just a two-week course. It's given one week at a time because most people who work for themselves cannot afford to be away from their business for two weeks at a time, however, the tuition paid covers two full weeks and every student is encouraged to come back for the second week after he has had more time to work with the instrumentation and maybe get a little field experience. "Your letter seems to imply that the courses you have approved are mostly lectures with insufficient hands-on time; and, believe me, that description does not fit our course. During the first week each trainee uses every piece of essential equipment and performs every necessary step in TSCM. Yes, the first morning starts with some talking; we spend an hour or so getting acquainted and providing an orientation on how the course is organized - including the instruction to read the textbook outside of class and bring in the questions in the morning. However, before noon of the first day, each trainee has a basic tool kit in front of him and is involved in taking a telephone apart and converting it into a room bug in two different ways. Normally, before day one is over every trainee has created a bug (using either the handset speaker or the carbon microphone as the transducer), learned how to trace the wiring from the classroom to the telephone closet, and tested each bugging method by properly connecting to the appropriate pair in the closet and listening to the quality of the sound from the sound source in the training room. "Please don't misunderstand me. In the material above I do not mean to imply that I think one week is enough. On the contrary, we are totally in favor of increasing the time required for licensure by a full forty hours. Our experience is that the returnees add a lot of realism to the course because they are new at the game, and have questions based on field experience. "However, your comment on offering credit for government/military courses scares us because our experience with government trained people has been mostly bad - primarily because most of them don't think, don't listen, just plod on as they were trained without any thought as to what the threat is they are working on. The first man we used bragged about all of the courses he had taken; but, despite a written list of tasks with an attached floor plan, I found him taking the upholstery off a chair in a non-target room. His comment was: "That's what they told us to do on every job." He was a star though, when compared to the man with "tons of Navy experience" who skipped steps one and two in the carrier current test, signed off on completing a room that he had not even entered, and, to top it off, told my client that a classroom was unsafe for use the following day because two telephone cables had been cut off leaving two of the RJ-11s connected to nothing! "Final note. Please note our new name and address. The ownership is the same, the people are the same, and the course is the same; but we're gearing up to do more in the equipment design field, and to get involved with some allied technologies. Please call if you have any questions." ECHELON Ed Note. The material that follows was taken from the STOA Report as a part of our effort to bring our readers accurate information on ECHELON and its possible use against us. (To see the kind of information being provided by others on ECHELON, its impact on friendly countries, and how it is used to spy on us in our own country, try http://www.usajournal.com/page 34.htm.) The material that follows has not been edited; You'll find UK spellings unchanged. 4. DEVELOPMENTS IN SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY Surveillance technology can be defined as devices or systems which can monitor, track and assess the movements of individuals, their property and other assets. Much of this technology is used to track the activities of dissidents, human rights activists, journalists, student leaders, minorities, trade union leaders and political opponents. "Subtler and more far reaching means of invading privacy have become available to the government. Discovery and invention have made it possible for the government, by means far more effective than stretching upon the rack, to obtain disclosure in court of what is whispered in the closet." So said US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, way back in 1928. Subsequent developments go far beyond anything which Brandeis could have dreamt of. New technologies which were originally conceived for the Defence and Intelligence sectors, have after the cold war, rapidly spread into the law enforcement and private sectors. It is one of the areas of technological advance, where outdated regulations have not kept pace with an accelerating pattern of abuses. Up until the 1960's, most surveillance was low-tech and expensive since it involved following suspects around from place to place and could use up to 6 people in teams of two working 3 eight hour shifts. All of the material and contacts gleaned had to be typed up and filed away with little prospect of rapidly cross checking. Even electronic surveillance was highly labour intensive. The East German police for example employed 500,000 secret informers, 10,000 of which were needed just to listen and transcribe citizen's phone calls. By the 1980's, new forms of electronic surveillance were emerging many of these were directed towards automation of communications interception. This trend was fuelled in the U. S. in the 1990's by accelerated government funding at the end of the cold war, with defence and intelligence agencies being refocussed with new missions to justify their budgets, transferring their technologies to certain law enforcement applications such as anti-drug and anti-terror operations. In 1993, the US department of defence and the Justice department signed memoranda of understanding for "Operations Other Than War and Law Enforcement" to facilitate joint development and sharing of technology. According to David Banisar of Privacy International, "To counteract reductions in military contracts which began in the 1980's, computer and electronics companies are expanding into new markets - at home and abroad - with equipment originally developed for the military. Companies such as E Systems, Electronic Data Systems (founded by Ross Perot ) and Texas Instruments are selling advanced computer systems and surveillance equipment to state and local governments that use them for law enforcement, border control and Welfare administration." According to Banisar, the simple need for increased bureaucratic efficiency necessitated by shrinking budgets has been a powerful imperative for improved identification and monitoring of individuals. "Fingerprints, ID cards, data matching and other privacy invasive schemes were originally tried on populations with little political power, such as welfare recipients, immigrants, criminals and members of the military, and then applied up the socioeconomic ladder. One in place, the policies are difficult to remove and inevitably expand into more general use. These technologies fit roughly into three broad categories. namely surveillance, identification and networking, and are often used in conjunction as with video cameras and face recognition or biometrics and ID cards. For Banisar, "They facilitate mass and routine surveillance of large segments of the population without the need for warrants and formal investigations. What the East German secret police could only dream of is rapidly becoming a reality in the free world. 4.1 Vehicle Recognition Systems A huge range of surveillance technologies has evolved, including the night vision goggles discussed in 3 above; parabolic microphones to detect conversations over a kilometre away(see Fig.18); laser versions marketed by the German company PK Electronic, can pick up any conversation from a closed window in line of sight; the Danish Jai stroboscopic camera (Fig.19) which can take hundreds of pictures in a matter of seconds and individually photograph all the participants in a demonstration or March; and the automatic vehicle recognition systems which can identify a car number plate then track the car around a city using a computerised geographic information system.(Fig.20) Such systems are now commercially available, for example, the Talon system introduced in 1994 by UK company Racal at a price of ?2000 per unit. The system is trained to recognise number plates based on neural network technology developed by Cambridge Neurodynamics, and can see both night and day. Initially it has been used for traffic monitoring but its function has been adapted in recent years to cover security surveillance and has been incorporated in the "ring of steel" around London. The system can then record all the vehicles that entered or left the cordon on a particular day. Such surveillance systems raise significant issues of accountability particularly when transferred to authoritarian regimes. The cameras in Fig 21 in Tiananmen Square were sold as advanced traffic control systems by Siemens Plessey. Yet after the 1989 massacre of students, there followed a witch hunt when the authorities tortured and interrogated thousands in an effort to ferret out the subversives. The Scoot surveillance system with USA made Pelco camera were used to faithfully record the protests. the images were repeatedly broadcast over Chinese television offering a reward for information, with the result that nearly all the transgressors were identified. Again democratic accountability is only the criterion which distinguishes a modern traffic control system from an advanced dissident capture technology. Foreign companies are exporting traffic control systems to Lhasa in Tibet, yet Lhasa does not as yet have any traffic control problems. The problem here may be a culpable lack of imagination.(Fig.22) Several European countries are manufacturing vehicle and people tracking technologies, including France40, Germany41, The Netherlands42 and the UK43. 4.2 CCTV Surveillance Net Works In fact the art of visual surveillance has dramatically changed over recent years. of course police and intelligence officers still photograph demonstrations and individuals of interest but increasingly such images can be stored and searched. (Fig. 23) The revolution in urban surveillance will reach the next generation of control once reliable face recognition comes in. It will initially be introduced at stationary locations, like turnstiles, customs points, security gateways, etc., to enable a standard full face recognition to take place. However, in the early part of the 21st. century, facial recognition on CCTV will be a reality and those countries with CCTV infrastructures will view such technology as a natural add-on. It is important to set clear guidelines and codes of practice for such technological innovations, well in advance of the digital revolution making new and unforeseen opportunities to collate, analyze, recognise and store such visual images. Such regulation will need to be founded on sound data protection principles and take cognizance of article 15 of the 1995 European Directive on the protection of Individuals and Processing of Personal Data.44 Essentially this says that: "Member States shall grant the right of every person not to be subject to a decision which produces legal effects concerning him or significantly affects him and which is based solely on the automatic processing of data." The attitude to CCTV camera networks varies greatly in the European Union, from the position in Denmark where such cameras are banned by law to the position in the UK, where many hundreds of CCTV networks exist. Nevertheless, a common position on the status of such systems where they exist in relation to data protection principles should apply in general. A specific consideration is the legal status of admissibility as evidence, of digital material such as those taken by the more advanced CCTV systems. Much of this will fall within data protection legislation if the material gathered can be searched, e.g., by car number plate or by time. Given that material from such systems can be seamlessly edited, the European Data Protection Directive legislation needs to be implemented through primary legislation which clarifies the law as it applies to CCTV, to avoid confusion amongst both CCTV data controllers as well as citizens as data subjects. Primary legislation will make it possible to extend the impact of the Directive to areas of activity that do not fall within community law. Articles 3 and 13 of the Directive should not create a blanket covering the use of CCTV in every circumstance in a domestic context. A proper code of practice should cover the use of all CCTV surveillance schemes operating in public spaces and especially in residential area. The Code of Practice should encompass:- a) a purpose statement covering the key objectives of the scheme; b) a consideration of the extent to which the scheme falls within the scope of Data Protection legislation; c) the responsibilities of the owner of the scheme and those of local partners; d) the way the scheme is to be effectively managed and installed; e) the principles of accountability; f) the availability of public information on the scheme and the principles of its operation in residential areas; g) the formal approaches to be used to assess, evaluate and audit the performance of both the scheme and the accompanying Code of Practice; h) mechanisms for dealing with complaints and any breaches of the Code including those of security; i) detailing the extent of any police contacts or use of the scheme; and j) the procedures for democratically dealing with proposals of technological change. Given that the United Kingdom has one of the most advanced CCTV network coverage in Europe and that the issues of regulation and control have been perhaps more developed that elsewhere, it is suggested that the Civil Liberties Committee formally consider the model Code of Practice for CCTV produced by the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU, 1996) in London (A Watching Brief) at a future meeting of this committee, with a view to recommending it for adoption throughout the EU. ********************************************************** Privacy and Security 2001, James A. Ross, Editor comes to you via email at no charge. If you do not wish to receive it, please let us know at jross@rosseng.com. If you know of someone else who you think would be interested, please send along his email address. If you would be interested in receiving the smail version, just send us $35 for North American addresses, $55 elsewhere to: Ross Group, LLC, 7008 Tech Cir, Manassas, VA 20109 USA ********************************************************** - - ------------------------------ End of roc-digest V2 #152 *************************